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Seattle Punk Band Childbirth Talk 'Women's Rights' and Their Feminist Agenda

The trio are bringing humor, politics, and thrash guitars back to rock with songs like "Siri, Open Tinder" and "I Only Fucked You As A Joke."
Image courtesy of Childbirth

Punk is three women screaming "Childbirth! Women's Rights!" over and over for 40 seconds.

Or at least that's what punk is for Julia Shapiro, Bree McKenna, and Stacy Peck, the women who make up Seattle-based punk band Childbirth. The trio had a long road to Women's Rights, their recently released album: Each are involved with other local bands (Julia with another all-female group, Chastity Belt, Bree in surfpop quartet Tacocat, and Stacy in garage-y two-piece Pony Time), and two of them dated and were just getting over the "disastrous" fallout of their two year-relationship when they started jamming together.

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But that was way back in 2014. Since then they've released the short-but-great debut album It's A Girl!, and had a viral hit with ultimate go-away jam "I Only Fucked You As A Joke." Their second album, Women's Rights, is a fast-paced 28 minutes that opens with the aforementioned screaming before moving on to dating parodies ("Siri, Open Tinder" and "Tech Bro"), misogynists' ideas about women ("Nasty Grrls") and the universal theme of being the only person bringing cocaine to a baby shower ("Baby Bump"). It's overtly political without being preachy, funny as hell, and very, very good.We talked to the women of Childbirth about their hospital gear, band mottos, and making punk and feminism funny.

Broadly: You were all in different bands before getting together. How did Childbirth come about?
Bree McKenna: My other band Tacocat had a lot of downtime for a while so I really wanted to be in another band, and then I got kicked out of a band with some of my dude friends for not being that good at guitar. Then Stacy and Julia let me jam with them right after that in the practice space Tacocat and Chastity Belt share, and voila.
Julia Shapiro: Yes, that's right. Stacy and I were fast friends. She adopted me as her daughter, and now she is my "cool mom." Bree and I weren't as close at first… She has shifty eyes… It took me a while to trust her.

When did you guys start performing in the hospital gowns? What's the deal there?
Stacy Peck: We have worn them since our first show. We just wanted something that would really showcase our figures.
Shapiro: Bree wanted to us to have a uniform. We wanted something flattering, yet not over the top so we went with hospital gowns. Bree has a nurse friend who was kind enough to give us some.

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Do you ever get flak for making songs that are so heavily geared towards women and/or that carry such a feminist message?
Peck: I've found that most people are very delighted by our topics. Besides internet trolls.
McKenna: I think that since there isn't a lot of music geared towards specifically to female experiences, a lot of people have been giving us really positive feedback. Like, how people feel about comedy shows we are delighted by—like with Broad City or Amy Schumer—the subject matter hasn't been as explored as much as male comedy has been, so it is refreshing.

Can you recommend any other feminist bands or musicians? Who do you guys listen to?
Peck: Mommy Long Legs, Girlpool, Slutever, Tacocat, Chastity Belt, mombutt.
McKenna: All those bands Stacy mentioned! Plus Mannequin Pussy, Lisa Prank, Hardly Boys, Bookhouse Babes, G.L.O.S.S., Wet Nurse. I also always appreciate men in the Seattle scene who are outspoken feminist allies through their music, like in Luke Beetham in the Pony Time song "Kathleen Hanna," and the Boyfriends song, "The Future is Female."

Does Childbirth have a motto?
Shapiro: "Can I borrow your amp?"
Peck: "Can I borrow your drums?"
McKenna: "Can I maybe borrow your bass amp, too?"

What's the deal with the term "girl band?"
McKenna: When people are describing "girl bands," they should always reverse the pronouns they are using to check to see how ridiculous it would sound if you were describing men that way. Like, lists describing male rock acts as "the top five boy bands to listen to" never really make the rounds.
Peck: People are lazy and can't wrap their minds around women being well rounded and fully capable human beings.

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Your songs run the gamut from abstract to absurd to very, very real. Are you guys just constantly writing everything down?
McKenna: I like to keep song ideas in the notes section of my phone. There are some real turkeys in there, but some gems can really come out of stoned revelations.
Shapiro: We have a whole list that we haven't even gotten to yet. One of my faves was Stacy's idea: "Sorry about your penis."

I feel completely confident about our feminist agenda.

Is it ever annoying to be considered a band with a political agenda, just based on you guys writing about what interests you? Does it bug you to have that label?
Shapiro: It's not annoying, but it's kind of surprising. I don't necessarily think of myself as a political activist, but I guess this is our medium. Also we definitely have an agenda, and I encourage everyone to start referring to our music as "agenda rock."
McKenna: I feel completely confident about our feminist agenda.

Your songs are really funny. Would you say punk is inherently funny?
McKenna: Not always, but I think that punk usually is a pretty clear reflection on the songwriters, and since my bandmates are hilarious people that is just how stuff comes out.
Peck: I think the great thing about punk is it can be ANYTHING.

What do you want people to know about Childbirth?
Shapiro: It's an extremely painful yet beautiful experience. Our friendship, I mean. I'm on a lot of DayQuil.
Peck: We are all friends in real life. Start a band with your friends.